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Kobayashi leads the way in Jerez test

Kamui Kobayashi continued his impressive GP2 testing pace by leading the way in both sessions at Jerez today

The Japanese driver has set the pace so far this winter, topping the previous main series test at Paul Ricard.

He was also quickest in the run up to the opening GP2 Asia round at Shanghai, although incidents in the races restricted him to a second place finish and a retirement.

But he returned to form in this week's two-day main series test in Spain, narrowly edging out Davide Valsecchi in the morning and Nico Hulkenberg this afternoon.

Hulkenberg put in another impressive day's work with ART, although his best time was bettered by Formula Renault 3.5 race winner Charles Pic, who was also in action with ART today. Pic's was the fourth quickest time of the day, behind Kobayashi, Valsecchi and Koudai Tsukakoshi, who impressed again with Piquet Sports.

Edoardo Mortara had the best day of this week's other GP2 newcomers, finishing the afternoon session seventh quickest for Arden, while Chris van der Drift had his best run yet with Trident running 12th this morning.

British Formula 3 champion Jaime Alguersuari was the latest driver to sample a GP2 car for the first time this week. He was only 25th with iSport this morning but improved to 17th in the afternoon session.

Fellow British F3 graduate Sergio Perez was out with Campos this morning, but did not run this afternoon, while BCN Competicion were absent again.

Morning times

Pos Driver                Team                  Time         Gap
 1. Kamui Kobayashi       DAMS                  1:24.262
 2. Davide Valsecchi      Durango               1:24.367  +0.105
 3. Koudai Tsukakoshi     Piquet                1:24.371  +0.109
 4. Charles Pic           ART                   1:24.756  +0.494
 5. Nico Hulkenberg       ART                   1:24.780  +0.519
 6. Roldan Rodriguez      Piquet                1:24.841  +0.579
 7. Luca Filippi          Racing Engineering    1:24.898  +0.636
 8. Pastor Maldonado      iSport                1:24.924  +0.663
 9. Jerome d'Ambrosio     DAMS                  1:25.136  +0.874
10. Diego Nunes           Campos                1:25.206  +0.944
11. Andi Zuber            Super Nova            1:25.340  +1.078
12. Chris van der Drift   Trident               1:25.425  +1.163
13. Carlos Iaconelli      Durango               1:25.440  +1.178
14. Christian Ebbesvik    FMS                   1:25.590  +1.328
15. James Jakes           Super Nova            1:25.590  +1.328
16. Karun Chandhok        FMS                   1:25.662  +1.400
17. Vitaly Petrov         Racing Engineering    1:25.730  +1.468
18. Michael Herck         DPR                   1:25.790  +1.528
19. Edoardo Mortara       Arden                 1:25.892  +1.630
20. Carlos van Dam        FMS                   1:26.025  +1.763
21. Sten Pentus           DPR                   1:26.028  +1.766
22. Alberto Valerio       Trident               1:26.137  +1.875
23. Luiz Razia            Arden                 1:26.141  +1.879
24. Sergio Perez          Campos                1:26.153  +1.891
25. Jaime Alguersuari     iSport                1:26.710  +2.448

Afternoon times

Pos Driver                Team                  Time         Gap
 1. Kamui Kobayashi       DAMS                  1:25.071
 2. Nico Hulkenberg       ART                   1:25.084  +0.013
 3. Davide Valsecchi      Durango               1:25.283  +0.212
 4. Charles Pic           ART                   1:25.329  +0.258
 5. Roldan Rodriguez      Piquet                1:25.637  +0.566
 6. Jerome d'Ambrosio     DAMS                  1:25.640  +0.569
 7. Edoardo Mortara       Arden                 1:25.885  +0.814
 8. Diego Nunes           Campos                1:25.895  +0.824
 9. Luca Filippi          Racing Engineering    1:25.897  +0.826
10. Andreas Zuber         Super Nova            1:26.016  +0.945
11. Koudai Tsukakoshi     Piquet                1:26.076  +1.005
12. Carlos Iaconelli      Durango               1:26.107  +1.036
13. Vitaly Petrov         Racing Engineering    1:26.113  +1.042
14. Michael Herck         DPR                   1:26.155  +1.084
15. James Jakes           Super Nova            1:26.266  +1.195
16. Alberto Valerio       Trident               1:26.358  +1.287
17. Jaime Alguersuari     iSport                1:26.491  +1.420
18. Sten Pentus           DPR                   1:26.842  +1.772
19. Christian Ebbesvik    FMS                   1:26.893  +1.822
20. Carlos van Dam        FMS                   1:27.035  +1.964
21. Luiz Razia            Arden                 1:27.736  +2.665
22. Pastor Maldonado      iSport                1:28.039  +2.968
23. Bertrand Baguette     Trident               1:28.434  +3.363

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